Once you've got your Plex Media Server setup, you're able to add all your digital media to the server and access it via the Plex web-based client on your PC, or via the Plex app on any of your devices. This can be a computer you use regularly, or a dedicated machine, and can be running Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or a network-attached storage device. To properly use Plex, you'll need to dedicate a computer to host your Plex Media Server. Plex allows you to sign up and create a web-based media server for free. If you morally object to using an application so closely associated with piracy, Kodi is probably not for you. While the Kodi website covers itself by stating, in part, 'the watching or listening of illegal or pirated content which would otherwise need to be paid for is not endorsed or approved by Team Kodi', there's no denying that a large portion of Kodi's user base are there strictly for convenient access to pirated content. However, the most popular Kodi add-ons allow you to stream TV shows and movies from the internet - and are unequivocally, 100% illegal.

On one hand, there are perfectly legal add-ons that help you integrate other services you may use such as Dropbox, and media sources such as YouTube and Spotify. Kodi also supports a large number of community-created add-ons, which is where things actually get a bit sticky. Kodi a bunch of community-created add-ons, which is where things actually get a bit sticky. This last point is crucial if you're planning to use Kodi on a touchscreen device, as the default Kodi skin is less than ideal on tablets and smartphones.

With Kodi, you're able to download and change skins, including ones specifically designed for mobile devices. That's another advantage Kodi has over Plex - customization. Kodi recognizes pretty much any file type, so you can throw all your videos, photos and music in there and Kodi will handle it. Kodi also allows you to stream media from any networked PC, though you'll need to be a bit tech savvy to set that up for yourself. Adding local media sources in Kodi is a breeze, whether you're storing your files on the internal storage of your device, an external hard drive connected to your computer, or a SD card inserted in your smartphone or tablet. Once installed, the easiest way to manage media with Kodi is to make it accessible locally on the machine. You can download the Kodi client for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS (jailbroken) and even Raspberry Pi.

Kodi plex